NUMBER ONE: OLCHS Drama Team Takes Home Two State Crowns

The Oak Lawn Spartan drama team got a police escort down 95th Street when the team bus rolled into town around late Saturday evening carrying two state trophies for group interpretation and contest play.

The team was in Springfield competing in the drama and group interpretation finals at IHSA State Tournament in Springfield.

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"I'm just amazed at how much talent we have among our three productions this year," OLCHS speech coach and drama department chair, Billy Denton, said on the school's website. "Whether they have been in many OLCHS or whether this is their first, these productions give our students an outstanding venue to showcase how strong the drama program at our school is."

The drama team won top honors in the contest play performing a 40-minute selection from Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, which deals with the outbreak of AIDS in New York City in the early 1980s.

The Spartans also scored in group interpretation, walking away with the state trophy with a "reader style" performance of Qui Nguyen's She Kills Monsters, about a sister's effort to keep her dead sister's memory alive through a game of Dungeons and Dragons.  

After celebrating with their parents and friends when they arrived at the school, the drama team went inside to savor their victories over some pizza. 

The Spartan drama team will reprise their state championship performances, and a children's play, Toy Story 3, April 3-5 in Oak Lawn Community High School's Little Theater, at  9400 Southwest Highway. Shows start at 7 p.m. 

Read about OLCHS's upcoming spring theater productions.